Town chief executive Simon Clegg has confirmed that the club will be replacing communications director Terry Baxter, who left the role at the beginning of the month. Baxter is set to present BBC Radio Suffolk’s breakfast show but will continue as the ITFC Charitable Trust’s chief executive.
Clegg said: "I was very disappointed to see him move on. I’ve got a huge amount of time for Terry, he’s an Ipswich man through and through.
"I’m genuinely delighted that he’s remaining at the Trust and I’m looking to replace him. I’m looking for a lead person on communications.”
Long-serving groundsman Alan Ferguson also moved on this month with Clegg consulting with the multi-award-winner before appointing his successor Ben Connell: "We moved very quickly to replace Alan. Ben did his apprenticeship here. He’s a young man in whom I see the potential to become the next Alan Ferguson.
"Alan was absolutely in the process and he drove it in the first instance. I said to him that he is recognised as the best groundsman in the country and that he was in a better position than anyone else to come up with a short list of people for me to interview, someone who he thought could fill his shoes and continue his good work.”
Ferguson, who has become head groundsperson at St George’s Park, the FA’s National Football Centre at Burton where David Sheepshanks is chairman, was at Portman Road on Tuesday to watch the 5-2 defeat to Southampton.
Meanwhile, police are expected to make an arrest in the next few days after an alleged assault on a steward in the corporate area under the Cobbold Stand during Tuesday’s match.